


A Mother's Love

by FreakyVintageWallpapers



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Past Child Abuse Mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-06 06:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11594436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreakyVintageWallpapers/pseuds/FreakyVintageWallpapers
Summary: At 27 when her son is ten, and she has the same number of bruises up and down each arm, she refuses to look her son in the eyes.





	A Mother's Love

When she turned five, her parents broke the news too her. 

America would offer so many possibilities there would be no reason to fear leaving their home country.

When she was 10 and her father was buried six feet under and her mothers tongue refused to speak the language despite constant nights of fighting to form the words, she had to quit school to fend for their small shack of a home.

At 13 she got her first real job at the tallest building in their city, cleaning under a man that shared in her heritage and suddenly American seemed like the place her father bragged about so many years ago.

At fifteen she's offered false promises by a man old enough to be her grandfather, but when he talks about her home in a way she could never remember, she gives herself too him in turn for stories.

At 16 she was pregnant with a CEO's baby, and her mother was torn over the ruined innocence of her daughter and what would become of her grandson.

At 17 she's carrying a bundle in her arms, as she walks down to a courthouse as the father of her child uses various accessories to hide his features in case any one recognizes him.

At 18 she refuses to see her mother, the woman who scolded and cried to her in a language that was now long gone to her daughter, and she wraps her arms around her infant as if too shield him from her past, but she isn't aware that it's the future that will force her son too see the worst in the world.

At 23, after receiving another letter from the school about her son, she realizes that she can't keep him trapped in a house void of love, but she can stay behind and fix it for when he gets back. She always wanted to go to summer camp as a kid.

At 27 when her son is ten, and she has the same number of bruises up and down each arm, she refuses to look her son in the eyes. She robbed him of her rich culture, and thrusted him into a new one that refused too see them, because the robes his mother wore when she was 5 still hung on her no matter how many times she tried to shed them.

At 27, her son is so full of hatred for an unforgiving world that she put him in, and she understands she can't take that back. But that doesn't mean she won't try.

At 27 and a half she forgets she makes that solemn vow and it's another summer at camp for her son. 

At 27 and a half she lets a red haired man who smiles too much for her tastes take her son because theirs so much determination and love in his eyes when he gazes at Max, that she'd be damned if she didn't let a true parent show her son what it meant to be in a house where you didn't have to avoid eye contact in fear of getting in trouble.

Right now, she sits at her desk, writing a letter and a check too a little boy that has been her only solace in this world. To her son that has lightened her life in ways she never noticed until now. To a son she loves very much. And she knows this isn't a good enough apology, but she knows it's a start. 

I love you Max, and I'm sorry for what I've done to you and I promise to fix it this time. I love you so very much.

Love,  
Mom

Max wasn't sure if he was supposed to cry or not, but he was sure staring numbly at the walls wasn't what he was supposed to do. They had been getting ready to eat breakfast together at the dining table when David brought in the mail. 

The six figure check was gifted to David in a separate envelope with a letter that promised more, along with with more promises of an upcoming visit from Max's mother and grandmother who were both excited to see him.

David calmly took the check, still in shock from the amount of money, and set it on top the fridge, brief thoughts of planning a family camping trip with the upcoming visitors ran through his mind, but all thoughts ran clear once he turned to face Max.

Max couldn't control the shaking that had over come him.

He had never received something that was filled with such love from either of his parents. The closest that came was the brief hug shared between his mother and him before David carried him back to Sleepy Peak. 

And his father was out of the question, vague memories of him being held and a quick kiss to his temple before they left him on his first day of camp by the older man appeared from time to time, but Max couldn't tell if he had just made up the interaction to fill that void or if his father was capable of showing that much affection to his bastard son.

David crouched next to him, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder and a top of the small fist that was clenched so tightly on the letter.

"Max?" David called, trying to draw Max out of whatever trance had fallen upon him. Max furrowed his brows as he stared hard at wall before him, his body shaking so hard he was making the chair creak.

When he heard David's voice he let his fist open, allowing David to take the letter. David stood up, but kept his hand on Max shoulder while reading the wobbly hand writing. 

"Oh, Max." David whispered, voice so quiet Max barely caught it.

It came out as a pained wheezed, and then stronger, and Max suddenly realized he was sobbing. He touched his cheek and found his finger tips wet with tears unknown to to him had fallen.

David slowly scooped up the boy, letting Max cry hard into his shoulder fists balling up in the man's shirt. 

"I know, buddy. Shh, it's okay Max. It's gonna be okay." David cooed, pacing the kitchen floor as he rubbed the boy's back.

"Why?" Max cried, summing up so many questions into one word and David felt his chest tighten, having no answers to settle his pleas.

"It's gonna be okay." David made his way into the living room setting down on the couch, and Max curled up in his lap, letting the rest of the tears slip by. 

"I fucking hate her!" Max spat, wiping the tears away only to be replaced by more.

David shushed him gently, running his fingers through the soft, black curls. 

"Why'd she fucking stay with him? Why'd she have me? Why do I have to carry her fucking shame?" He yelled. 

"You don't have too, Max. Your not your parents, you're not their mistakes. You're not what they think, believe, or do. You're you. Nothing has to change that." David soothed, letting the words fall among the sniffling and teary eyed hiccups.

Max sniffed and took a deep breath, allowing his nerves to calm.

"Stop speaking cryptic shit like that, you sound like the quarter master." 

David laughed loudly, and both felt the mood lighten. And both were very grateful for it.

They stayed like that for most of the morning.

David held him close, thinking of mothers and marriages of his own past, and Max held on tight to David's arm that was stroking Max's upper arm in an attempt at comfort, wondering if moments such like these were what it mean to have a mothers love.


End file.
